

CISO Series Podcast
David Spark, Mike Johnson, and Andy Ellis
Discussions, tips, and debates from security practitioners and vendors on how to work better together to improve security for themselves and everyone else.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 12, 2019 • 43min
Do's And Don'ts of Trashing Your Competition
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/dos-and-donts-of-trashing-your-competition/) We want to malign our competitors, but just don't know how mean we should be. Miss Manners steps in on the latest episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and special guest co-host, Mark Eggleston (@meggleston), CISO, Health Partners Plans, and our guest is Anahi Santiago (@AnahiSantiago), CISO, ChristianaCare Health System. We recorded in front of a live audience at Evanta's CISO Executive Summit in Philadelphia on November 5th, 2019. Recording CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast in front of a live audience at Evanta's CISO Executive Summit in Philadelphia (11-05-19) Thanks to this week's podcast sponsors Trend Micro, Thinkst, and Secure Controls Framework. Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com. The Secure Controls Framework (SCF) is a meta-framework – a framework of frameworks. This free solution is available for companies to use to design, implement and manage their cybersecurity and privacy controls in an efficient and sustainable manner. Our approach provides a comprehensive solution to manage complex compliance needs. Most companies find out way too late that they've been breached. Thinkst Canary changes this. Find out why the Thinkst Canary is one of the most loved products in the business and why the smartest security teams in the world run Canary. Visit https://canary.tools. On this week's episode Why is everyone talking about this now? Greg van der Gaast, former guest who runs security at The University of Salford, initiated a popular LinkedIn discussion on the topic of human error. According to his colleague Matthew Trump of the University of Sussex, in critical industries, such as aerospace, oil & gas, and medical, "human error" is not an acceptable answer. You simply have to prevent the incident. If not, a mistake can be both a regulatory violation and lethal. But people are a part of the security equation. It's unavoidable. We know zero erros is impossible, but can you accept "human error" as a fail point? Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? Listener David said, "One thing I have experienced at my last two jobs is integrating with a 'global' security team whose security program is effectively and functionally inferior to our own. In these occasions, the global security team wanted us to remove current safeguards, processes/procedures and tooling that reduced the preparedness and effectiveness of our security program and introduced risk(s) that we have not been exposed to in years. All of these changes were always touted as a 'one team' initiative but never once was due diligence on security posture taken into account. "What is the best way to go about a consolidation like this? Do you not mess with a good thing and ask the 'better' security program to report up incidents, conform to compliance check boxes etc. or as a CISO do you sign off on a risk acceptance knowing that the operating company is now in a worse state of security." "What's Worse?!" We've got two rounds of really bad scenarios. What annoys a security professional Geoff Belknap, former guest and CISO of LinkedIn, appreciates a vendor's desire to "bring like minds" together around food or drink, but the invite is not welcome on a weekend. Belknap feels that the weekend intrudes into a CISO's personal/family space. There was a lot of debate and disagreements on this, but there were some solutions. One mentioned a vendor invite that included round trip Lyft rides and childcare. Oh, they did something stupid on social media again Jason Hoenich, CEO of Habitu8 posted on LinkedIn that he didn't appreciate Fortinet writing about security training for CSO Online, something for which Jason's business does and for which he believes Fortinet does not have any expertise. It appears this was a sponsored article, but Jason didn't point to the article nor did he isolate specifically what he felt was wrong with Fortinet's advice. Here at the CISO Series, we like Jason and Habitu8. They've been strong contributors to the community. But complaining and not pointing to any concrete evidence is not the best way to convince an audience. Earlier this year we saw something similar with the CEO of Crowdstrike going after the CEO of Cybereason claiming an underhanded sales tactic that was not specified nor anyone at Cybereason knew what he was talking about. Is it OK to go after your competition in a public forum? If so, what's the most professional and respectful way to handle it? It's time for the audience question speed round Our Philadelphia audience has questions and our CISOs had some answers. We rattle off a quick series of questions and answers to close the show.

Nov 5, 2019 • 35min
Get Out! The FUD Is Coming from the Inside
All links and images for this post can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/get-out-the-fud-is-coming-from-the-inside/) On this week's CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast, we're pointing fingers at practitioners, not vendors, for promoting the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) scare-a-thon. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week is Eddie Contreras (@CISOEdwardC), CISO, Frost Bank. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor Trend Micro. Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com. On this week's episode Why is everyone talking about this now? On LinkedIn, Ron C. of CoreSolutions Software said, "Cybersecurity is no longer just a technical problem. It's now more of a people problem! So why aren't businesses prioritizing security awareness training for their staff?" There was a massive response and mixed agreement. Regardless, are we falling short on security awareness training? Is it not effective? Is it too complicated to pull off? Is the cost not justified? More importantly, has security awareness training had any impact? Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? accidentalciso on our reddit channel, r/cisoseries, asks, How does a security professional know if "CISO truly is the right career goal for them? I don't think the reality of the role is consistent with what one might think early on in their career." What was it about the CISO role that makes a security professional want to pursue it and how does that previous perception of what a CISO did counter or align with what was really experienced? It's time to play, "What's Worse?!" Is there a worst type of attack? Ask a CISO James Dobra, Bromium, asks, "Are security organizations guilty of using FUD internally, e.g. with the board and with users, while complaining that vendors use it too much?" Does FUD happen internally? Do security teams do it to get the money they want and/or shame users into submission? On August 30, 2019, white hat hacker Tavis Ormandy discovered a vulnerability in a LastPass browser extension. This was a vulnerability, not a breach and was very quickly remedied without damage. But it still causes chills when the last bastion of password security reveals its Achilles heel. It's like seeing your family doctor contract a terminal disease. But for CISOs, this might be a good thing. Password complacency and sloppy security hygiene are the scourge of security specialists everywhere. A SaaS-based password manager that uses hashes and salts to remove the existence of physical passwords in their own vaults, is still a highly proactive solution. More found on CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. First 90 Days of a CISO Both Mike and our guest, Ed, are second time CISOs in their first 90 days at the role. We review what mistakes they made the first time as a CISO that they're actively avoiding this time. Are there any hurdles that are simply unavoidable and they're just going to have to face it like any new CISO would.

Oct 29, 2019 • 33min
Say It Loud! I Didn't Read the Privacy Policy and I'm Proud!
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/say-it-loud-i-didnt-read-the-privacy-policy-and-im-proud/) If we don't understand the purpose of a privacy policy, why should we bother reading it? We're claiming the cyber ignorance defense on the latest episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week is Roger Hale (@haleroger), CISO in residence, YL Ventures. Mike Johnson, co-host, CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast, Roger Hale, CISO in residence, YL Ventures, David Spark, producer, CISO Series. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor Zix. Zix simplifies administration and reporting with a single management interface. Configuring, deploying, and monitoring email security and unified archiving services has never been easier – or faster. ZixSuite combines a cloud-based email threat protection, email encryption, and unified business communications archiving, all backed by Zix's gold standard 24/7/365 support. On this week's episode How CISOs are digesting the latest security news We're blowing it with general cybersecurity education. According to a study by the Pew Internet Research Center, most Americans don't understand or can't identify basic cybersecurity concepts such as two-factor authentication, private browsing, or the purpose of a privacy policy. We talk a lot about the important of education and it appears we're not doing a good job. What are some creative ways we can dramatically improve these numbers? Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? Cai Thomas, Tessian, has an article on TechRadar on the dangers of sending corporate work via personal email accounts. He outlines the issues. As per the previous story, chances are very high people are completely unaware of the risk their placing the company in by forwarding corporate email to personal accounts. No amount of education is going to solve this problem. What are the systems that companies can and should setup to give people a better alternative than sending emails to personal accounts? What's Worse?! How damaging can not having a seat on the board be? Ask a CISO Nick Sorensen, Whistic, asks, "What do you see the most proactive vendors doing to prepare for vendor security reviews from their customers?" "Your bank account has been frozen." That's now an old chestnut in the scamming world, but it thrives through increasingly sophisticated spoofing activities that include a banks' real phone number and real-looking pop-up websites for password refresh requests. Even IT experts can get caught by these things occasionally, as some have even confessed on this very podcast series. This level of relentless innovation is worth keeping front of mind when considering the amounts of data that Internet of Things devices are creating but that organizations have no plan or space for. IBM, Forrester, and others have suggested that maybe 1 percent of data generated from IoT connectivity is being used, mostly for immediate learning or predictive activities. More available on CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. First 90 days of a CISO Today is Roger's first official day as a CISO in residence at YL Ventures. What the heck does that mean, and how does that differ from being an operational CISO?

Oct 22, 2019 • 34min
I'll See Your Gated Whitepaper and Raise You One Fake Email Address
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/ill-see-your-gated-whitepaper-and-raise-you-one-fake-email-address/) We're all in with not wanting "follow up email marketing" on the latest episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week is Ian Amit (@iiamit), CSO, Cimpress. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor Trend Micro. Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com. On this week's episode Why is everyone talking about this now? To gate or not to gate. Mike posted on LinkedIn about how much he appreciated vendors who don't gate their content behind a registration wall. The post blew up on LinkedIn. The overwhelming response got some vendors willing to change their tune. Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? Kevin Kieda of RSA Security asks, "For an initial meeting what are the things you want the sales person to know about your business that many of them don't." Kevin says he gets frustrated that he gets the sense a prospect wants them to know what tools they're using even though he knows he often can't find out that information. What is the must know, nice to know, and boy I'm impressed you know that? Mike Johnson recommends BuiltWith.com for basic OSINT on a company site. What's Worse?! Whose mistakes are worse? Your own or the vendor's? The great CISO challenge Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) is a risk framework (often laid ontop of others) that simplifies the understanding of risk by identifying the blocks that contribute to risk and their relationship to each other and then quantifying that in terms of money. Ian, can you give me an example of how you actually do this? Since its inception back in 2010, Zero Trust Architecture has been gaining traction. Much of the interest stems from the nature of work and data today – people working from anywhere on any device, and data racing around networks and to and from the cloud means there is no single fortress where everything can exist safely. Operating on a belief that everything inside the perimeter is safe because it's inside the perimeter is no match to today's hacking, penetration and inside sabotage. The establishment of new perimeter protections, including microtunnels and MFA is best applied to new cloud deployments but must still somehow be factored into a legacy architecture without becoming more inconvenient and vulnerable than what it is trying to replace. More on CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. Why is this a bad pitch? What's the polite way to hande the way too generic vendor request. We offer two examples of non-specific pitches that are obviously just begging for a CISO's time. Is there a polite way to refute the request and let them know without talking down to them and letting them know that this isn't a tactic they should pursue?

Oct 15, 2019 • 34min
Rated #1 in Irresponsible Security Journalism
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/rated-1-in-irresponsible-security-journalism/) No security alert is too small for us to completely misrepresent its severity. The sky is falling on the latest episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor, Zix. Zix simplifies administration and reporting with a single management interface. Configuring, deploying, and monitoring email security and unified archiving services has never been easier – or faster. ZixSuite combines a cloud-based email threat protection, email encryption, and unified business communications archiving, all backed by Zix's gold standard 24/7/365 support. On this week's episode Why is everybody talking about this now? Two recent stories showed some fallibility in multi-factor authentication or MFA. We repeatedly recommended MFA on this show. But, the FBI announced some technical and social engineering techniques that are being used to break multi-factor authentication. In addition, Twitter admitted that email addresses and phone numbers used to set up MFA might have been sent to third party advertisers. The FBI says its news shouldn't change our trust in MFA. William Gregorian, CISO, Addepar, posted on LinkedIn that the press is claiming that MFA is broken and that's irresponsible journalism. Let's dig a little deeper Security professionals thrive on hearing about and learning about the latest threats. It feeds the latest security headlines and conferences. While it's often fascinating and keeps everyone interested, to what level are security concerns based on well-known years old threats vs. the latest threats? "What's Worse?!" Whose mistakes are worse? Yours or the vendors'? Please, enough. No, more. We've talked a lot about machine learning on this show and the definition of it is broad. What's ML's value in threat protection. We discuss what we've heard enough about with regard to machine learning being used for threat protection And what would we like to hear a lot more. When companies in retail or enterprise remind their online visitors to change their passwords, are they doing them a favor or causing them grief? Password managers exist, of course, as do newer forms of passwordless authentication, multifactor authentication and behavioral and biometric data. But ultimately, whose responsibility is this? Should a merchant website place the onus of personal security back on the customer? And if so, how would this protect the merchant's own property? If this jeopardizes a sale or transaction, the cost of proactive security, at least for the short term appears too great. And it's obvious, from the avalanche of data breaches of recent years that stored data of any sort becomes a permanent liability. More available on CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. Ask a CISO Gina Yacone, a consultant with Agio, asks, "If you're performing a table top exercise. Who are the only three people you would want to have a seat at that table?"

Oct 8, 2019 • 31min
Cybercrimes Solved in an Hour or Your Next One's Free
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/cybercrimes-solved-in-an-hour-or-your-next-ones-free/) In the real world, cybercrimes just don't get solved as fast as they do on CSI. So we're offering a guarantee. If we don't catch the cyber-perpetrator in an hour (including commercial breaks) we'll make sure you're attacked again. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our sponsored guest this week is Jason Hill (@chillisec), lead researcher at CyberInt Research Lab. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor, Cyberint. The high ROI is what makes spear phishing campaigns so attractive to threat actors. Read our breakdown of TA505's latest series of attacks. CyberInt has been tracking various activities surrounding this and other similar attacks where legit means were used to hack international companies in the retail & financial industries. On this week's episode What annoys a security professional Question on Quora asks, "What does everybody get wrong about working in the field of forensics?" There were a handful of answers from looking to TV and film dramas to that it's only a post mortem analysis. What are the biggest misconception of digital forensics? Why is everybody talking about this now? Tip of the hat to Stu Hirst of Just Eat who posted this Dilbert cartoon that got a flurry of response. Read for yourself, but in essence, it's a boss that thought technology would solve all his problems. Not realizing that people and process are also part of the equation. All too familiar. The "I've been hearing a lot about __________" phenomenon. What causes this behavior and how do you manage it? "What's Worse?!" How much flexibility to you require in your security team and the business? Please, Enough. No, More. How far can AI go? Where does the human element need to exist? What are the claims of the far reaching capabilities of AI? We discuss what we'd like to hear regarding the realistic capabilities and limitations of AI. Every year, the Fall season sees billions of dollars being spent on home-based IoT devices. The back-to-school sales are the starting point, Cyber Monday is the clubhouse turn and the year-end holiday season is the finish line. As usual, these devices – printers, DVRs, IP cameras, smart home assistants, are relatively inexpensive and provide plug and play convenience, to satisfy an impatient customer base. For the rest of the cloud tip, head to CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. We don't have much time. What's your decision? What are the best models for crowdsourcing security? There are entire businesses, such as bug bounty firms, that are dedicated to creating crowdsourced security environments. Our guest this week is passionate about investigative work. We asked him and Mike what elements they've found that inspire and simplify the community to participate in a crowdsourced security effort.

Oct 1, 2019 • 35min
Mapping Unsolvable Problems to Unattainable Solutions
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/mapping-unsolvable-problems-to-unattainable-solutions/) We're busting out the Cyber Defense Matrix to see what our security program we'll never be able to achieve. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week Sounil Yu (@sounilyu), former chief security scientist for Bank of America and creator of the Cyber Defense Matrix. David Spark, producer, CISO Series, Sounil Yu, creator, Cyber Defense Matrix, Mike Johnson, co-host, CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor, Zix. Zix simplifies administration and reporting with a single management interface. Configuring, deploying, and monitoring email security and unified archiving services has never been easier – or faster. ZixSuite combines a cloud-based email threat protection, email encryption, and unified business communications archiving, all backed by Zix's gold standard 24/7/365 support. On this week's episode Why is everybody talking about this now? Mike asked the LinkedIn community, "What's bad security advice that needs to die?" We had an entire episode of Defense in Depth on this very topic called "Bad Best Practices." The post got nearly 300 responses, so it's obviously something many people are passionate about. Is there a general theme to bad security advice? The great CISO challenge Sounil Yu is the creator of a very simple problem-to-solution chart for security professionals called the Cyber Defense Matrix. This simple chart allows a cyber professional to see how their tools, processes, and people are mapped to all different levels of security protection. We discuss the purpose of the matrix and all the real world applications. "What's Worse?!" We have a real world "What's Worse?!" scenario and Mike and Sounil compete to see if they answered the way the real world scenario actually played out. Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? Last week on Defense in Depth we talked about a discussion initiated by Christophe Foulon of ConQuest Federal on cyber resiliency. Some people argued that it should be a security professional's primary focus because its action is in line with the interests of the business. Should a cyber professional shift their focus to resiliency over security? Would that facilitate better alignment with the business? Exploitable weaknesses measured in decades. Not a comforting thought. But this is a reality that exists in at least two major IT ecosystems. The first is Microsoft and the second is firmware. Teams belonging to Google's Project Zero have found exploitable security flaws affecting all versions of Windows going back to Windows XP – which presents a logistical nightmare for admins the world over. Sarah Zatko, Chief Scientist at the Cyber Independent Testing Lab spoke recently at Red Hat and DEF CON in Las Vegas about deficiencies in the security of firmware, including those from companies that manufacture the world's best-known routers. More available at CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. Ask a CISO Thanks to Chris Castaldo, CISO at Dataminr, for this post on new research from the firm Marsh and Microsoft. According to the study, half of the respondents didn't consider cyber risk when adopting new tech. A full 11 percent did no due diligence to actually evaluate the risk a new technology may introduce. Does it take that much effort to understand the basic risks of introducing a new technology? What are some first level research efforts that should be done with any new tech consideration or adoption?

Sep 24, 2019 • 38min
Wait… What? Good News in Cybersecurity?
All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/wait-what-good-news-in-cybersecurity/) On this episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast, cybercrime fails and we brag about it. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week is Geoff Belknap (@geoffbelknap), CISO, LinkedIn. Mike Johnson, co-host, CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast, Geoff Belknap, CISO, LinkedIn, and David Spark, producer, CISO Series. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor Trend Micro. On this week's episode How CISOs are digesting the latest security news We simply don't hear enough good news cybersecurity stories that make those involved proud. What are the cybersecurity stories that aren't being told publicly that should be? First 90 Days of a CISO Michael Farnum, Set Solutions, said, "If you come into the job and aren't willing to critically review existing projects AND put a stop to the ones that are questionable, then you are going to cause yourself problems later. It might seem like an unwise political move when new to the company, but you have to be willing to swing the axe (or at least push the pause button) on anything that doesn't make sense." Not so easy, but where's the line where you can actually push and say, "We're changing course"? It's time to play, "What's Worse?!" We've got a split decision! Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? On a previous episode of Defense in Depth, we talked about employee hacking or getting the staff on the same page as the CISO and the security program. I quoted instructor Sarah Mancinho who said, "I am a firm believer that CISOs/CIOs should have their own dedicated IT strategic communications person(s) that report to them, and not any other office. Most comms roles I've seen...had to report to HR/PR/General Comms....none of whom really knew anything about technology/technical comms/infosec....and had little to no interaction with the IT/security team." My co-host, Allan Alford, loved this idea, never had it, but would love to have it. What value could a dedicated PR person bring to the security team? The devious new Android malware called Cerberus steals credentials by using a downloaded fake Adobe Flash player. That is not really innovative in itself, but what's interesting is the way it seeks to avoid detection by using the phone's accelerometer to confirm that the infected target is a real device and not on the screen of a security analyst. According to ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko, quoted in Forbes, the app actually counts a number of physical footsteps taken by the phone's owner, and deploys once the required number has been reached. For more, check out the full tip on CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. Why is everybody talking about this now? What's behind the cybersecurity skills shortage? In an article on the Forbes Council, Mark Aiello, president of cybersecurity recruiting firm CyberSN, pointed out some ugly truths as to why it's so difficult to hire cybersecurity talent. He pointed to low pay, the desire to find unicorns, poor job descriptions, training and growth. Is the core issue that the cybersecurity industry just does a very poor job welcoming new entrants? Today, what does a cybersecurity professional need walking in the door? And what are CISOs willing to accept no knowledge of, yet willing to train?

Sep 17, 2019 • 38min
Serious Hackers Wear TWO Black Hoodies
All images and links for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/serious-hackers-wear-two-black-hoodies/) We're doubling down and embracing the absolute worst of hacker tropes. Put on your black hoodie and then a second one. Boot up your Matrix screensaver and listen to the latest episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our sponsored guest this week is Bruce Potter (@gdead), CISO, Expel. Here are the links to the items Bruce mentioned on the show: Expel's third-party assessment framework NIST CSF (and soon to be PF) self assessment tool Oh Noes! The incident response role playing game Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor Expel Expel is flipping today's managed security model on its head (Ouch!) for on-prem and cloud, taking a technology-driven approach that lets analysts focus on what humans do best: exercise judgment and manage relationships. The company offers 24x7 monitoring through its security operations center-as-a-service, using the security tools customers already have. On this week's episode We've got listeners, and they've got questions A listener, who wishes to remain anonymous asks, "I am a one person security organization, and I get frustrated reading industry news and even listening to the CISO Series (love the show). My frustration is that so very often articles, blogs and podcasts assume that you/your organization has a security TEAM... How do you thrive and not just survive as a security shop of one?" What can a one-person shop expect to do, and not do? Let's dig a little deeper Bruce is also the founder of the Shmoo Group and his wife is the organizer for the annual ShmooCon which is a hacker conference held in DC every year. I'm stunned that his 2200-person event sells out in less than 20 seconds. There is obviously huge demand to attend and speak at your event. This year's event he had 168 submitted talks and 41 were accepted. Bruce tells us what makes a great ShmooCon submission and what were the most memorable talks from ShmooCon. "What's Worse?!" Today's game probably speaks to the number one problem with every company's security program. Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? An issue that comes up in security all the time is "how do you do more with less." Are there ways to advance your security program when you don't have more budget or more people to do so? Study after study shows a top priority for cloud users is having visibility into application and data traffic. But most are not getting it. Nine out of ten respondents believe that access to packet data is needed for effective monitoring. So even though the cloud providers maintain the fortress, the enterprise still needs to see what's going on. They're ultimately responsible, after all. Cloud needs its own approach to monitoring, more closely based on how cloud customers interact with their data. It needs its own tools and greater level of communication between them and their providers. More on CISO Series. Check out lots more cloud security tips sponsored by OpenVPN, provider of next-gen secure and scalable communication software. OpenVPN Access Server keeps your company's data safe with end-to-end encryption, secure remote access, and extension for your centralized UTM. Why is everybody talking about this now? We have talked in the past about the tired and negative image of the hacker in the black hoodie. It's pretty much all you see in stock photos. And since that's all any media outlet uses, that image just keeps getting reinforced. Poking fun and I think truly trying to find a better hacker image meme, Casey Ellis, founder of Bugcrowd, challenged others on LinkedIn to find a better "hacker stock photo" than the one he posted of hands coming out of a screen and typing on your keyboard with a cat looking on. We debate the truly worst hacker images we've seen and we propose a possible new stock image of the hacker.

Sep 10, 2019 • 41min
CISO Confessions: "It's Not You. It's Me."
Links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series (https://cisoseries.com/ciso-confessions-its-not-you-its-me-/) Vendors are trying to understand why CISOs are ghosting them and sometimes, it really isn't their fault. CISOs accept the blame on the latest episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast. This episode is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and founder of Spark Media Solutions and joining me is special guest co-host Betsy Bevilacqua (@HEALTHeSECURITY), CISO, Butterfly Network. Our guest will be Matt Southworth (@bronx), CISO of Priceline. This episode was recorded live in WeWork's Times Square location on September 5th, 2019. Here are all the photos. Enormous thanks to WeWork for hosting this event. They're hiring! Contact JJ Agha, vp of information security at WeWork. Also, huge thanks to David Raviv and the NY Information Security Meetup group for partnering with us on this event. Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor Tehama, Tenable, and Devo. Tehama provides secure and compliant virtual desktops on the cloud, and all the IT infrastructure needed for enterprises to connect and grow global and remote teams. Tehama's built-in SOC 2 Type II controls reduce the risk of malware intrusion from endpoint devices, data breaches, and other vulnerabilities. Learn more at tehama.io. Effective vulnerability prioritization helps you answer three questions: Where should we prioritize based on risk? Which vulnerabilities are likeliest to be exploited? What should we fix first? Tenable gives you the accurate and actionable data you need to answer these questions and better secure your business. Learn more: tenable.com/predictive-prioritization. SOC teams have been struggling with many of the same issues for years – lack of visibility, too much noise – all while the threat landscape grows more complex. Devo Security Operations is a next-gen cloud SIEM that enables you to gain complete visibility, reduce noise, and focus on the threats that matter most to the business. On this week's episode How are CISOs digesting the latest security news? An article on Bloomberg and an ensuing discussion on LinkedIn pointed out that costs after a breach go beyond fines and lost reputation. It also includes the cost to keep top cybersecurity talent. Salaries for a CISO post-breach can range from $2.5-$6.5 million, that includes stock. What could a security professional show and demonstrate in this time of crisis that they are the one to hire to garner such a salary? Hey, you're a CISO, what's your take on this? Michael Mortensen of Risk Based Security asks a question about when there's considerable dialogue with a prospect, and they go cold. Michael wants to know what causes this? He has theories on sales people being impatient or wrong set of expectations, but he's interested in the CISO's viewpoint. Assuming you have had conversations with a vendor, have you gone cold on their outreach? If so, what was the reason? It's time to play, "What's Worse?!" Two rounds lots of agreement, but plenty of struggle. Why is everybody talking about this now? Cryptography firm Crown Sterling has sued Black Hat for breaching its sponsorship agreement and also suing 10 individuals for orchestrating a disruption of the company's sponsored talk at the conference in which the CEO presented a finding on discovering prime numbers which are key to public-key encryption. The crowd didn't like it and they booed him. You can see a video of one individual yelling, "Get off the stage, you shouldn't be here." Crown Sterling argued that Black Hat was in violation of their sponsorship agreement because they didn't do enough to stop it. At Black Hat and related parties I saw many printed signs about codes of conduct. It doesn't appear anyone had a plan to enforce those rules. What has happened in the security community that some security professionals feel they have the right to shout down a speaker like this? If one of these 10 disruptors was your employee, how would you respond? What's a CISO to do? So much of a job of a CISO is to change behavior. How do CISOs change behavior to a more secure posture? Where should a CISO start? What's the low hanging fruit? It's time for the audience question speed round Our audience has questions, and our CISOs tried to come up with as many answers as possible. Our closing question put my guest co-host in the hot seat.


